The History of British Rock and Roll: The Psychedelic Years 1967 - 1969

The History of British Rock 'n' Roll:

The Psychedelic Years 1967 - 1969

Copyright

The History of British Rock 'n' Roll:

The Psychedelic Years 1967 - 1969

©Copyright 2017 by Robin Bell

Published by Robin Bell Books

This eBook Edition June 2017

ISBN 978-91-981916-8-4

Robin Bell Books

Ölme Hagen

68194 Kristinehamn

Sweden

www.robinbell.se

Dedication

It’s often said, if you can remember the 1960’s then you weren’t really there. This book is for all who were there and those that wish they had been.

Acknowledgements

When I started writing about rock ‘n’ roll music in Britain, I naively thought that I could cover the subject in a single book. How wrong I was! When I started to combine my own memories with research of the times, it soon became clear that the amount of data could not possibly be contained in just one volume – and I became rather overwhelmed by the scale of the project and put it to one side. It was not until I heard the song Class Of ‘58 by Al Stewart on his CD A Beach Full Of Shells that I decided that I should at least attempt the task, and seriously sat down at my computer and started writing.

It was a fascinating journey as each topic led me further into areas from my teenage years that I thought that I had forgotten. Volume 1 – The Forgotten Years 1956 – 1962 reminded me of Sunday school outings to Great Yarmouth and watching my idols of the time such as Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, Peter Jay and The Jaywalkers, Helen Shapiro, Joe Brown and so many others.

But as my research into those early years started to get into the early 1960’s I realised that the music had become insidiously watered down and sanitised from the absolute rawness of the pioneers and it would only be kick-started back to life – and how – by a new musical revolution with an even greater impact than that of the first British rock ‘n’ roll artists. And so it seemed that it was logical to break the history at that point and pick up the story again as the Beat Boom and the golden age of British rock ‘n’ roll burst onto firstly the United Kingdom and rapidly extended across the world.

Again, the sheer scope of the information has necessitated that the second volume in the series, The Beat Boom, had to be contained to just the period 1963 to the end of 1966. The remainder of the decade from 1967 up to the end of 1969 is the subject of a third volume - which is where this book comes in.

My thanks go to the many recording artists, producers, writers, composers and manufacturers who have made information widely available through books, correspondence and of course the Internet – an unbelievable source of facts and figures, often confusing and contradictory.

I am particularly thankful to the web site UK Rock Festivals, where there are an incredible amount of eye witness accounts, personal photographs and memories from most of the major Festivals which took place in the UK during the 1960s. Through this site I was able to contact several people who had attended some of these events to confirm attendances and participating artists.

The Beatles Bible web site is also another valuable source of information on the happenings surrounding probably the most famous groups of the 1960s - and the book, The Beatles Anthology, also helped to confirm or deny facts. As for The Rolling Stones, the web site Time Is On Our Side helped to sort out events affecting The Stones, while Bill Wyman’s book Rolling With The Stones also puts matters in perspective.

Thanks to Al Stewart for the kick-start I needed to begin this project and for the years of enjoyment from his many records. Visit Al’s web site for tour dates, records and much more at http://www.alstewart.com/

Facebook is a wonderful social media and a way of contacting others with a similar passion for the 1950s and 1960s. I thank the members of the ‘Keep Calm and Remember the 50s and 60’s’ for their knowledge and inspirational posts, in particular June Atkinson for running the group, together with members Sam Perry, Ian Fulton and Robert Woods for their feedback after reading through various drafts of this book - and all others who have offered encouragement during the creation of this book.

Acknowledgements for the various photographs used in the book are given under each individual illustration – and again I thank those people and organisations who made these photographs available to me. I have attempted to locate the copyright holders of each illustration used, but if there are any problems, please contact me.

Preface

Psychedelic:

Adjective:

1.  of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair.

2. of, relating to, or noting any of various drugs producing this state, as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin.

3. resembling, characteristic of, or reproducing images, sounds, or the like, experienced while in such a state.

So is the word psychedelic defined in many dictionaries. In this volume, we’ll look at the development of British rock ‘n’ roll during the last three years of the 1960s and see just how appropriate that definition is for a musical style that took the world by storm, and how so many variations of music grew from the heady years of the Beat Boom which preceded that period.

In the second volume, we looked at the years between 1963 and 1966, when British youth once again took control of the music and this time truly conquered the world of popular music. That period saw an amazing focus on Britain and all things British. There seemed to be an unending supply of fresh, talented musicians, artists, photographers and fashion designers spreading the word across the world that, as Roger Miller so truthfully sang, England Swings.

After the initial breakthrough of the early rock ‘n’ roll pioneers in the second half of the 1950s decade, there was a gradual decline in the intensity of the music until that amazing rise of the Beat Boom in 1963. Many pundits confidently predicted that the overwhelming dominance of British musical performers would suffer a similar decline following the British Invasion years and for a while it seemed as though their gloomy predictions could indeed come true as The Beatles shocked the world with their decision to stop performing live.

But Britain had no intention whatsoever of surrendering its hard earned crown as the most influential country in the music business. Turning away from live performances and the dominance of the singles market, many artists began focusing more and more on the recording studio and producing quality albums instead.

While many acts continued to dazzle audiences with their live performances - groups such as The Who and The Small Faces spring to mind - the period following 1966 saw the emergence of a new generation of musical artists with an even wider range of musical styles. Folk, rock, symphonic rock, country rock, progressive rock and above all psychedelic rock were all well represented throughout the remainder of the decade.....

Introduction

Towards the end of 1966, the music scene in Britain had begun to change significantly. The Beatles had made their final live concert performance at Candlestick Park, preferring instead to concentrate on work in the recording studios, while John Lennon had by this time met Yoko Ono and the seeds of the breakup of the world’s most dominant band had been sown. A new talent in the form of Jimi Hendrix had arrived on the scene, destined to change the face of rock ‘n’ roll in Britain and while it seemed that other groups such as The Rolling Stones would continue to perform and turn out rock ‘n’ roll classics forever, other forces in the music world were clamouring to be heard.

The initial phase of the Beat Boom had seen bands from the north of the land become a dominant force with their blend of rhythm and blues, Motown and pop music, while those down in the deep south of the country had initially stuck to covering the music from the neglected black American blues singers before blossoming out with their own styles and compositions. Before long groups from all over the country were having hit records and participating in the British Invasion.

But as in the period leading up to the beginning of the Beat Boom years, proponents of alternative musical styles still stuck true to their beliefs and across the country youngsters, not content to merely copy their heroes, combined sources from all musical genres to create new sounds. While the basic line-up of guitars, bass and drums - with the occasional keyboards - still proved the most popular, new sounds and new instruments - and even new uses of traditional instruments - began to appear as musicians experimented more and more and, free from the constraints of having to reproduce on stage arrangements that were only possible with the expansion of studio technology, began releasing more and more extravagant and avant garde productions. As usual in the vanguard of these were The Beatles, who, together with producer George Martin, would stagger the world in 1967 with their highly acclaimed album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, once again raising the musical bar.

In this third volume of the series, we’ll look at the many and varied musical styles that evolved during those magical three years between 1967 to 1969, to discover how the music influenced society - and how society in turn, influenced the music.

We shall see how the major acts from the Beat Boom embraced the opportunities in recording technology to produce astonishing, memorable works of art, including the astonishing landmark album by The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and their less well received Magical Mystery Tour TV extravaganza and album. Not to be outdone, The Rolling Stones responded with their own film and music compilation Rock and Roll Circus but in the end were not satisfied with their own contribution and the film was shelved for almost 30 years. Among other established groups, The Who released the ground-breaking rock opera Tommy while others - such as The Moody Blues - re-invented themselves to encompass new styles.

But all was not peace and love during the second half of the Swinging Sixties. We’ll explore the internal differences in opinion between members of several well-known groups which resulted in changes in direction and musical styles for groups such as, for example, The Hollies, who parted company with co-founder Graham Nash - who left to form Crosby, Stills and Nash with Americans David Crosby from The Byrds and Stephen Stills from Buffalo Springfield. The Spencer Davis Group also underwent major personnel changes as lead singer Stevie Winwood left to join forces with drummer Jim Capaldi, guitarist Dave Mason and multi-talented Chris Woods to form Traffic yet within a few months disband Traffic and form yet another group with ex-Yardbirds and Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker in Blind Faith.

We read in volume two of this series how Brian Jones was becoming more and more alienated from his fellow Rolling Stones members. We’ll follow up this in volume three and see how, in March 1967, Jones broke up with his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, who promptly formed a relationship with fellow Rolling Stone Keith Richards, driving the wedge between Jones and the band even deeper. Matters came to a head in June 1969 when Jones was told by fellow band members Jagger, Richards and Charlie Watts that he would no longer be a part of the band. Jones was replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor, who had the unfortunate experience of playing his first gig with the band just a month later at the free concert in London’s Hyde Park dedicated to Jones - who had been found dead in his swimming pool just a couple of days before the concert. The Small Faces, too, were hit by changes in band membership when their iconic lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriot stormed off stage mid way through a New Year’s Eve gig in 1968, vowing that he was leaving the band because he was unhappy with the musical direction of the band. Marriott then joined his friend Peter Frampton in a new band, Humble Pie, early in 1969.

Despite a gradual change in attitudes to popular music among the older generation, we’ll look at how some members of the establishment continued in their attempts to denigrate the so-called ‘bad boys’ influence on the youth of the day and how, conversely, certain factions of the establishment fought back in support. Following the arrest of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on drug charges following a police raid on Keith’s house, Redlands, many were surprised to read a full page editorial in The Times newspaper by William Rees-Mogg, criticising the severity of sentences handed down to both Jagger and Richards under the heading "Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel".

Crossovers between musical styles became commonplace as musicians searched for new sounds and genres. Traditional British folk music was blended with rock ‘n’ roll by groups such as Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and Steeleye Span, sowing the seeds for later bands such as Spirogyra to expand into progressive folk rock, while bands like The Third Ear Band and Quintessence incorporated Indian musical instruments such as the sitar into their repertoire.

Yet more changes were underway among experimental musical groups such as The Yardbirds and Cream as they expanded both their consciousness and music through the use of hallucinogenic materials. Moving away from the pure blues roots, psychedelic rock attempted to replicate and even enhance the experiences of mind-altering drugs such as LSD through the use of alternative electronic musical instruments and recording techniques. Other groups would take the British style of psychedelic rock into uncharted territories as bands such as Pink Floyd incorporated light shows into their stage performances, when a single song could last over 20 minutes as band members extemporised over the basic melody.

Apart from folk rock and psychedelic rock, we’ll also look at the development of so-called progressive rock, or prog-rock as it is often abbreviated. Bands such as King Crimson, Yes and others spent hours, days, weeks or even months in the recording studios producing coherent albums with a series of linked songs or musical pieces. And in yet another branch of British rock ‘n’ roll, bands such as The Moody Blues would produce albums equivalent to a mini symphony or an opera, naturally enough called symphonic rock.

And while many bands were concentrating their efforts on albums and experimentation and their early fans grew up with their heroes, the singles charts continued to reflect the moods and aspirations of the teenagers of the day, leading to a wide variety of musical styles entering the pop charts, from ballads to Eurovision Song Contest entries (and winners) through to foreign language songs.

1966 saw the demise of the off-shore pirate radio stations as the Government fought back against them with changes to the Maritime Broadcasting Act. But the teenagers had become accustomed to their daily doses of pop and rock music through the radio, so the BBC was forced to respond to demand by starting broadcasting with a new radio station, Radio 1, aimed specifically at the pirate radio audience, recruiting many of the disc jockeys from the defunct pirates.

In other chapters we’ll look at the many music festivals held across the country - and a couple held in America - which would have a profound impact on the fortunes of several British artists, culminating in the classic end of an era Woodstock Festival, which brought an end to a decade that had been more influential than any other to date.

Let’s turn the pages and see how all that happened, beginning in 1967...

Chapter One: Prelude…

1967 has been described as the peak of the hippie movement, with the summer of that year gaining the name of the Summer of Love. Like the original rock ‘n’ roll movement of the mid 1950s, a decade later America saw the birth of another social phenomenon which was to have so many implications on society and on popular music in particular. So what was happening in America in 1967 and what effects did events across the Atlantic have on the British music scene? Let’s take a look.

The North Beach area of San Francisco had been the centre of the alternate group of authors known as the Beat Generation since the early 1950s - authors such as Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg and William S Burroughs espoused the key elements of their alternative society - a spiritual quest, exploration of native and eastern religions, sexual liberation, the rejection of materialism - and the exploration of hallucinogenic substances designed to expand the senses.

Novels such as Kerouac’s On The Road which detailed the travels across America of a group of friends while living a life of drugs, jazz and poetry, became the blueprint for many disillusioned teenagers while other books published around the same time in the late 1950s, such as Ginsberg’s Howl were the subject of obscenity trials which helped to spread the word and liberalise publishing in America.

Ken Kesey’s Bus

Joe Mabel [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0

Following on from Jack Kerouac’s road trip, in 1964 Ken Kesey and his band of followers known as the Merry Pranksters undertook their own trip, in a psychedelically painted school bus known whimsically as ‘Further’. Kesey popularised the use of drugs such as LSD, believing that if a large enough proportion of the population tried psychedelic drugs then through the experience they would bring about sociological and political changes. The Merry Pranksters made LSD available to anyone willing to try it - LSD was not made illegal until October, 1966 in America - through a series of so-called Acid Tests, musical and artistic events where participants were invited to try ‘acid ‘ - the popular name for LSD. Music for these events, the first of which took place in Palo Alto, California in November, 1965, was often supplied by bands such as The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and other - at the time - relatively obscure bands.

On January 14, 1967 an event was held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park which was the prelude to the Summer of Love. The event, known as The Human Be-In was held to protest against the introduction in October the previous year banning the use of the psychedelic drug LSD and was organised by the artist Michael Bowen, who invited key figures in the underground hippie movement, including Allan Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, to participate.

The event was heavily publicised in the San Francisco hippie newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle with the following announcement:

"A new concept of celebrations beneath the human underground must emerge, become conscious, and be shared, so a revolution can be formed with a renaissance of compassion, awareness, and love, and the revelation of unity for all mankind".

It was during this, his first public appearance in San Francisco, that Leary used his famous phrase ‘Tune In, Turn On and Drop Out’ as he addressed the crowd. Like Kesey’s Acid Test events previously, music was provided by the same bands - by now gaining in popularity through appearances at venues such as the Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom - and the so-called ‘Underground Chemist’ Owsley Stanley provided large quantities of LSD.

Publicity for the event raised attendance levels as hippies from across the country travelled to San Francisco and estimates of the total attendance range from 20,000 up to 30,000 people, bringing together young people from the cities counter-culture, disillusioned radicals upset with America’s role in Vietnam and the non-political, peace loving inhabitants of the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

Following the Human Be-In - which spawned other events with similar names, such as the very popular TV programme, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In - the Haight-Ashbury area became the centre of attention and the number of students coming in to the area caused alarm among local authorities, who felt unable to cope with the large numbers streaming in to the area. By the middle of the spring of 1967, local residents had taken matters into their own hands and formed the Council of the Summer of Love, thus coining the phrase used to describe that influential period.

The publicity generated from the Human Be-In drew young people from all areas of America to California and resulted in two major events being held there - the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival, sponsored by radio station KFRC and held in a 4,000 seat amphitheatre at Mount Tamalpais in Marin County over June 10 - 11, 1967 being the first of the Summer of Love concerts - followed just a few days later with the three-day concert held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds.

KFRC Fantasy Fair with Jefferson Airplane

By Bryan Costales ©2009 Bryan Costales, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0

The Magic Mountain event featured performances by many significant bands, including the first large event appearance of The Doors who were rising up the Billboard charts at the time with their hit record Light My Fire. Other notable bands to appear included Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, Canned Heat, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Country Joe and The Fish and Tim Buckley. The event is considered to be America’s - if not the world’s - first true rock festival and proceeded without any major incidents, unlike the tragic Altamont  Free Concert held just two years later which marked the end of the peace and love era.

The Monterey Festival, held over the three days of June 16, 17 and 18, 1967 has overshadowed the Magic Mountain event to a certain extent, largely because of the inclusion in the Festival line-up of several British bands such as The Who and Eric Burdon and The Animals but also because of the first appearances at large scale events of Janis Joplin and Otis Redding. The official approved capacity of the concert area was 7,000, but estimates put attendances at the Saturday concert at over 8,500. Estimates of the total attendances at the Festival over the three days range anywhere between 25,000 up to an amazing 90,000.

The final day of the Festival was highlighted by performances by The Who and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, neither act being particularly well known in America at the time - but this certainly changed after Monterey. Both acts were well aware of the explosive nature of the other’s acts from performances in the UK and there was some debate as to which band would go on before the other. The dilemma was solved by the toss of a coin and The Who took the stage before Jimi Hendrix. Despite not having their regular Sound City powerful amplifiers with them - they were too expensive to ship to America - and forced to make do with less powerful Vox AC30 amplifiers, The Who produced a performance which stunned the fans who were unfamiliar with the antics of Pete Townshend and Keith Moon.

Not wanting to be upstaged by The Who, Jimi Hendrix pulled out all the stops during his performance, playing his guitar with his teeth and culminating in setting fire to his guitar. In a review of the Hendrix performance by America’s first alternative weekly newspaper, The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote: "Music was a given for a Hendrix stuck with topping the Who's guitar-smashing tour de force. It's great sport to watch this outrageous scene-stealer wiggle his tongue, pick with his teeth, and set his axe on fire, but the showboating does distract from the history made that night—the dawning of an instrumental technique so effortlessly fecund and febrile that rock has yet to equal it, though hundreds of metal bands have gotten rich trying. Admittedly, nowhere else will you witness a Hendrix still uncertain of his divinity."

The Festival was closed by the Californian hippie quartet The Mamas and The Papas, who brought on singer Scott Mackenzie to perform the John Phillips composition San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) which was destined to be the musical soundtrack to the Summer of Love.

Also notable at Monterey was the appearance - although not in a performing capacity - of Rolling Stone Brian Jones, who had flown over just for the Festival. Jones attended with the German singer Nico and it was Jones himself who introduced Jimi Hendrix’s performance to the cheering crowds. In a later interview with the New Musical Express British musical newspaper, Jones stated of the Festival "This is a great scene. The people are so polite and talk to me and say they like the way I’m dressed."

The impact of the Festival on the British music scene cannot be over-emphasised. Neither The Rolling Stones nor The Beatles appeared at the Festival (despite many rumours that they would, or that band members were in disguise in the crowd) with the exception of Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones were unable to attend because of the drug trials of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and The Beatles had vowed to stop live performances, partly because of the complexity of their music making it impossible to perform live. However, it was Paul McCartney who pushed for both The Who and Jimi Hendrix to be booked for the Festival, with the result that these two bands became the major British touring live bands during the Summer of Love.

But while events in America were spreading the words of peace and love and which would soon spread across the Atlantic to the UK, back in Britain popular music was diversifying as never before.

The year started with Tom Jones continuing his rule at the top of the UK charts with his single The Green Green Grass of Home while at the same time singles by artists as varied as Jimi Hendrix (Hey Joe), Vera Lynn (It Hurts to Say Goodbye) and a strange combination of Max Bygraves and Kenny Ball (Rosie) were all released during the first week of the new year. The beginning of the year also saw the arrival in the UK of a band from Australia who had achieved major success on the other side of the world - The Bee Gees.

The Gibb brothers - Barry, Maurice and Robin - had been born in the Isle of Man to British parents before the family moved to Manchester, where they lived until the late 1950s. The three brothers, despite their young age, were very musically inclined and started their own skiffle band which they called The Rattlesnakes together with friends and neighbours Paul Frost (drums) and Kenny Horrocks (tea chest bass), making their debut at an intermission at the local Gaumont cinema over Christmas 1957.

However, their UK career was cut short when the Gibb family emigrated to Queensland, Australia in August, 1958, settling in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, where they resumed their musical career by performing as The Brothers Gibb at the local speedway track. It was there that they came to the attention of a local Brisbane radio DJ, Bill Gates, which eventually led to the group - now performing under the name The Bee Gees, supposedly derived from Gates’ and Barry Gibb’s common initials - performing on local television and at venues along the Queensland coast.

By 1963 the group had gained a recording contract with Leedon Records - a subsidiary of Festival Records - at the instigation of local Australian star Col Joye, who had been impressed by their songwriting abilities. But a move to Sydney and a lack of commercial success with their released recordings had caused Festival to be on the verge of dropping them. Luckily the band came into contact with American record producer Nat Kipner, who had been appointed A & R manager with the independent record label Spin Records. Kipner took over management of the band for a short while, during which he brokered a deal with Festival that enabled the band to move to the Spin label, but with Festival retaining the Australian distribution rights to any recordings.

Kipner was also instrumental in introducing the band to recording producer and engineer Ossie Byrne, who owned his own studios in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the band almost unlimited access to his studios, during which they honed their recording and songwriting skills through recording original songs as well as covers of songs made popular by The Beatles and other touring UK bands. One of the songs recorded and released was the Barry Gibb composition Spicks And Specks which was released in Australia on the Spin label in September, 1966.

However, the band became disillusioned with their apparent lack of success in Australia and decided to set sail - literally - for the UK to try their luck at the end of 1966, appearing as the ship’s cabaret in return for their passage. But before leaving, the boys’ father had sent tapes of some of the bands songs to Brian Epstein, who in turn had passed them on to fellow Australian Robert Stigwood - who had previously worked with legendary producer Joe Meek and who had recently joined Epstein’s company NEMS Ltd.

When the boys arrived in the UK, accompanied by producer Ossie Byrnes, they were granted an audition with Stigwood in February, 1967 who was impressed enough with their performance to award them a five year recording contract with Polydor Records in the UK and Atco Records in America and begin a promotional campaign, during which he pronounced them ‘The Most Significant New Talent of 1967’ which inevitably led to comparison with The Beatles.

In order to round out the trio’s sound and prepare them for live performances, Stigwood recruited one of the Gibb brothers’ Australian friends, Colin Peterson - who had recently arrived in the UK - to play drums and guitarist Vince Melouney, who had been the lead guitarist with top Australian act Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs between 1963 and 1965 before moving to the UK. The band’s first UK release was their old Australian record Spicks And Specks - which the band had learned had been voted Best Single of the Year back in Australia by Go-Set magazine even as they sailed to the UK - was a small success in the UK.

. The band’s second release - New York Mining Disaster 1941, co-written by Barry and Robin Gibb - proved to be even more successful. To heighten interest in the single, Stigwood arranged for demo versions to be delivered to leading radio stations - but with just the song title displayed, leading to many stations believing that it was in fact a new record by The Beatles and playing it repeatedly. This subterfuge helped the record to eventually climb into both the American and UK top 20 following its release in April, 1967.

Over the rest of the year The Bee Gees recorded several more chart successes in both the UK and America, culminating with their first UK chart topper with Massachusetts in October, 1967.

But The Bee Gees were not the only overseas group with a British connection to arrive in the UK early in 1967 and score chart successes. In the middle of January, 1967, the American version of The Beatles, in the form of The Monkees, took over the top spot in the UK charts from Tom Jones with their record I’m a Believer.

The Monkees had been formed initially to star in an American TV show about an imaginary band, to capitalize on the success of The Beatles and in particular their film A Hard Day’s Night. As we will see in a future chapter, at one stage Brian Jones’ friend Prince Stash was even touted to appear in the show, but eventually the four actor/musicians chosen were Americans Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz, with the last role going to Englishman Davy Jones.

The Monkees

By Colgems Records - Billboard page 15

In the initial stages of the band, the group members were given very limited musical roles, but gradually were allowed to participate more and more in the recording studios. Nevertheless, there was a deal of controversy over the use of studio musicians on their recorded output.

The TV series The Monkees was first shown in America in September, 1966 and reached UK TV screens in late December the same year, where it debuted on BBC One TV at 6:15pm on New Year’s Eve, slotted in after an episode of the popular science fiction series Dr. Who. The show was billed in the Radio Times as ‘A new film series for the young at heart, starring Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith who find the deck stacked against them in… Royal Flush’. This was followed by a more detailed description of the show: ‘Off the launching pad tonight is a new series which is driving American television viewers wild. Called The Monkees it stars four long-haired young men, who encounter adventures as a pop group. What do The Monkees want? asks a promotion handout. It answers: To be free...to make every day Saturday night, to climb impossible mountains, to take a trolley car to the moon, to deflate stuffed shirts.

The Monkees group - now selling millions of discs in America - was created by television executives who put an advert in a paper asking for: MADNESS, Four insane, spirited, and hip boys...with the courage to work.

Do the successful four - Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith - live up to the demanding requirements? Well, judge for yourselves from tonight.’

Following this premier, the series was then shown weekly on BBC One for a total of 56 episodes, each of 30 minutes duration, ending in April, 1968, with a few re-runs up until June, 1968. Despite being an American TV show and unashamedly drawing on The Beatles for inspiration, the show was a great hit, particularly among younger teenagers and, capitalising on this success, several singles featuring The Monkees were released in the UK.

The band released their first single, Last Train to Clarksville in October, 1966 which was often compared to The Beatles single Paperback Writer, containing as it does similar ‘jangly’ guitar sounds and similar chord structure and vocal harmonies - in particular the section ‘Oh no, no, no,’ which was specifically included by the writers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to emulate the familiar ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’ on records by The Beatles.. The single reached number 1 in the Billboard charts in America but was not so successful in the UK, owing to the later screening of the TV show.

However, following the screening of their TV show in the UK, the band’s next single, I’m a Believer, composed by Neil Diamond, stormed up the charts across the world, reaching number 1 in the UK in mid-January, 1967 and also in America, Australia, Canada and a number of European countries.

But while The Monkees were enjoying their success, several other British bands who had enjoyed their spell in the limelight just a few months earlier, were beginning to have problems, among them Manfred Mann, Brian Poole and The Tremeloes and The Spencer Davis Group.

Manfred Mann with Paul Jones

By Mercury Records (Billboard, page 25, 13 August 1966)

Manfred Mann had enjoyed great success during the Beat Boom years with hits such as Doo Wah Diddy Diddy, Pretty Flamingo and Just Like a Woman but in the middle of 1966 had parted company with their lead singer, Paul Jones, who elected to take on a solo career. Jones was replaced by vocalist Mike D’Abo, but for 1967 at least, the new line-up was a year of little chart success and they would have to wait until January, 1968 before achieving another UK number 1 record with Mighty Quinn.

The fates were no more kind for new solo artist Paul Jones, who’s first solo single, High Time reached number 4 in the UK charts in late 1966 and his follow up second release in January, 1967, I’ve Been a Bad, Bad, Boy stalled at number 5 in the UK charts. Successive singles, Thinkin’ Ain’t For Me later in 1967 reached number 32 in the UK charts and his final solo release, Aquarius - not released until 1969 - fared even worse, peaking at number 45 in the UK charts.

Another move involving a lead vocalist parting company with his band occurred in January, 1967, when Brian Poole and The Tremeloes announced that they were parting company. Poole and The Tremeloes had enjoyed great chart success during the Beat Boom years, becoming famous as the group that Decca Records preferred over The Beatles back in 1962 and achieving further notoriety in September 1963, when their record of Do You Love Me famously knocked The Beatles’ She Loves You from the number spot in the UK charts.

However, their success had diminished in the following years and they decided to part company, announcing the split on January 28, 1967. As in the case of Paul Jones and Manfred Mann, the backing band performed more successfully than the solo artist, with The Tremeloes first release under their own name, Here Comes My Baby - written by Cat Stevens - reached number 4 in the UK charts and their next release Silence is Golden taking them to the coveted number 1 spot in the UK charts in May the same year.

In January, 1967, The Spencer Davis Group released I’m a Man, written by Steve Winwood and producer Jimmy Miller and this record was to be their last top ten UK chart success, when it peaked at number 9 in the UK and number 10 in the Billboard charts in America. But by the end of February, 1967, fans of the band were shocked to read that both Steve and his brother Mervyn ‘Muff’ Winwood were leaving the band after a final performance in Liverpool scheduled for April 2, 1967.

While Muff Winwood had decided that performing was not for him, and preferred to work behind the scenes in production and recording, brother Steve wanted to progress his music and towards the end of March, 1967, fans could read in the New Musical Express that Winwood was to form a new group - when he completed his commitments to The Spencer Davis Group - with friends and fellow musicians Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason and Christopher Wood, with the new group taking the name Traffic.

Steve Winwood had first met Capaldi and Mason when the latter pair was playing in a band known as The Hellions in Hamburg in 1964, where The Spencer Davis Group were also playing. Winwood was staying at the same hotel as Capaldi and Mason and as fellow Brits the three became close friends.

Jim Capaldi was born in Evesham, Worcestershire and as a child he studied the piano, as his father was a music teacher. However, his real love was the drums and by the time he reached the age of 14 he formed his first band, The Sapphires, in which he served as lead vocalist. After leaving school at age 16 he started an apprenticeship in a factory and it was there that he met up with Dave Mason.

In 1963 Capaldi decided to form his own band and recruited rhythm guitarist Gordon Jackson from local band Unit Five and Mason - who was at the time playing in another local band called The Jaguars with drummer Roger Moss and guitarist Michael Mann - on lead guitar to form The Hellions.

The Jaguars were heavily influenced by bands such as The Shadows and played mainly instrumental numbers, even going so far as to self-finance their own single record, which they sold at gigs to fans. However, Capaldi’s new band, The Hellions, were still lacking a bass player and auditioned a few aspirants before settling on Dave Meredith, whom they recruited from another local band, The Cherokees.

The Hellions, now with the line-up of Capaldi, Mason, Jackson and Meredith, soon gathered a strong local following and gained a residency at a local coffee bar, The Flamingo. In 1964, when a local girl singer named Tanya Day - who had gained some fame through her appearance on the TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars - was offered the chance to travel to Hamburg and perform at the Star Club, she enlisted the help of The Hellions as her backing band. As with The Beatles and many other British bands appearing in Hamburg at the time, working hours were long and conditions were tough, but the long hours on stage produced a very tight unit and by the time the band returned to England they were considered highly proficient and as such were offered several opportunities to back established performers such as Adam Faith and Dave Berry at local gigs.

Their fame spread through these gigs and by the end of 1964 the band had secured a residency at the famous Whisky A Go Go Club in London, where they were spotted by visiting American record producer Kim Fowley, who was accompanied by singer/songwriter Jackie De Shannon - known for her contribution to The Searchers’ song portfolio.

Jackie De Shannon in particular was impressed by the band, and managed to secure them a recording contract with Piccadilly Records, a Pye subsidiary and who also wrote the band’s first single, entitled Daydreaming of You. Produced by Kim Fowley the catchy single, although played frequently on radio, failed to make the UK charts - as was the case with the next two singles recorded by the band, Tomorrow Never Comes and A Little Lovin’

By now Capaldi and Mason had begun writing songs together and the ‘B’ side to their third single, entitled Think It Over has composition credits given to all four band members. In addition, a Capaldi-Mason song Shades of Blue was recorded by The Rockin’ Berries on that group’s first album.

In 1965, Capaldi switched from drums to taking the role as lead vocalist in The Hellions, when drummer John ‘Poli’ Palmer joined the band and they gained further fame when they toured the UK with American singer P.J. Proby. However, expenses were mounting, and in 1966 the band was forced to return to their native Worcester but, finding the local scene had changed considerably in their absence, Dave Mason decided to leave the band and take up a position as roadie for The Spencer Davis Group. During this time Piccadilly Records released a final single for the band, titled Hallelujah but unbeknown to the group, released it under the name The Revolution.

Mason was replaced by guitarist Luther Grosvenor - another local Evesham lad - and the band changed name to Deep Feeling, changing their musical style to a heavier, more psychedelic feeling, adding more subtleties to their sound with the occasional inclusion of a flute or vibraphone played by Palmer - with Jackson substituting for Palmer on drums when the latter was so occupied.

The band was spotted by Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky while playing at a gig in Cheltenham, who organised a recording session for the band in London. Although several tracks were recorded, there was only one song released by the band - and that only in America and France. The single, entitled Pretty Colours was a Capaldi-Jackson-Palmer composition and was released on the Marmalade Record label, a subsidiary of Polydor Records.

While in London, the band appeared at a club known as Knuckles and one evening they were approached by ex-Animals bass guitarist Chas Chandler - who was now turning his attention to artist management - who asked if a protégée of his, a young black guitarist, could sit in with the band for a few numbers. The band was naturally sceptical, but agreed. Their scepticism soon vanished when the young guitarist began to play - he was none other than Jimi Hendrix!

A new club had opened in Birmingham on Aston’s High Street, called The Elbow Room which became a popular meeting place among musicians who would often jam together. It was there that Capaldi and Mason - still acting as roadie for The Spencer Davis Group - would play together with Steve Winwood and would often be joined by saxophonist and flautist Chris Wood, who was at the time playing in a Birmingham group called Locomotive, but who had previously played in an early incarnation of Chicken Shack with Christine Perfect.

When Steve Winwood made his decision to leave The Spencer Davis Group - and with Muff Winwood also leaving that band there was now very little requirement for roadie Dave Mason - it was a natural progression for Winwood, Mason, Capaldi and Woods to get together to form their new band, Traffic in March, 1967. Naturally Capaldi’s departure from Deep Feeling caused massive disruption in the band and they decided to disband and focus on other musical careers. ‘Poli’ Palmer moved on to join a band called Blossom Toes, then Bakerloo, Matthews Southern Comfort and Eclection before joining the progressive rock band Family, while Luther Grosvenor founded the band Spooky Tooth and later joined Mott The Hoople - under the name Ariel Bender - in the 1970s. Gordon Jackson, for his part, decided on a solo career and released an excellent if underplayed solo album in 1968 - which featured musical contributions by Steve Winwood, Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi. With no significant success from his solo career, Jackson later worked in a non-musical capacity with Steve Winwood.

There was no doubt in everyone’s mind that with such a well-known performer as Steve Winwood in the band, there would be a lot of attention - as Dave Mason said later "Everyone realized that we were going to get a certain amount of success because Steve was in the band." Because of the